Easter Eggs

Let's review the last two chapters! Regarding last week's cover, this Smoker drawing is actually a tribute to the end of My Hero Academia's serialization, as Kohei Horikoshi once submitted this drawing to Usopp Gallery, the art segment featured at the end of each volume, when he was just a child before My Hero Academia began serializing.

In this case, however, the writing “One Piece” was changed to “Hero Aca”, obviously meaning “My Hero Academia”, but even more, on his vest it says 23 UGK, meaning Usopp Gallery Kaizokudan Volume 23, referring to the volume where he submitted his art.

When Vegapunk's message finally concludes, we see a few more reactions to it. We see the people of Dress Rosa, with several dwarves among them, reacting to the message. On the backs of some of their clothes, we see the words "Fuza na" and "Mono 2" or "Mono ni" in Japanese, which translate respectively to "you've got to be kidding me" and "property," the latter being a reference to the character's line "will this world become the property of pirates?!", or "this world will fall into the hands of pirates" if you want to translate it more naturally.

Next, we see three bizarre characters, who are actually incredibly deep references that probably only veteran One Piece fans will recognize. These three characters were originally created for a Shonen Jump contest by Eiichiro Oda alongside his colleagues, the author of Rurouni Kenshin and Shaman King, pitting them against fan-created teams.

They are known as the "Firm Curry Pirates" and consist of Hippie "the Skull Curry" in the center, Scimitarta on the right, and Hiro Gomon on the left. Hiro Gomon is always accompanied by a wooden horse he calls Mokuba, which can also be seen at the edge of the panel here.

At Marine Headquarters, we get a reaction shot of Vice Admiral Stainless, who has appeared several times in the series, and behind him is someone who looks a lot like Bogard, though it's unclear if it's meant to be him. We also see Koby, who mentions that he must stop Luffy's dream, though it's worth noting that he's specifically saying that he must stop his dream rather than Luffy directly.

Final Words

Before Vegapunk's message completely ends, as the transmission den den mushi explodes, there is one last thing he says:

“That’s the truth. About Joyboy, you…”

In his final words, Vegapunk says "Joyboy wa," meaning "Joyboy is," and "Kare no," meaning his, a masculine possessive term. In this case, looking back at the beginning of their conversation, it seems clear now that the "man he didn't know enough about" Vegapunk was talking about wasn't referring to someone like Imu, but rather to Joyboy, with Vegapunk not knowing enough about Joyboy to be able to fully judge him, and unsure of Joyboy's true intentions due to his desire to let the ancient weapons remain in this world.

At the same time, before leaving us, Emet shares some final words with us:

I'm sorry, Joyboy…
I wanted to apologize to you…
I know well…!!
There's no way you're still alive…!!
But… that look is so nostalgic…
This revived… my feelings from that day.
I'm sorry, Joy Boy…
That I couldn't... make you king...

The fact that Emet refers to Joyboy not being able to become King is a really interesting concept, because many of us have long speculated that Joyboy could have been the king of the old kingdom, as it's now clear from Vegapunk's message that he was at least the leader of these D-clan people. But perhaps Joyboy's ambition was greater, and his meaning of becoming "king" was similar to what Luffy intends, especially with Emet laughing at Luffy's remark about wanting to become the "pirate king." His acknowledging Luffy as a member of the D-clan further drives this parallel.

Joyboy's Haki

Emet pulls a compartment from inside and pulls a rope. As the knot in the rope is undone, a massive surge of Conqueror's Haki is released, the original Joyboy's Haki. It seems they were somehow able to find a way in the Void Century to imbue Haki into items, perhaps similar to how black blades are forged by imbuing Haki into them.

It's worth noting that this technology is also similar to that of Weatheria, where Haredas demonstrated how wind could be stored within us. This connection is particularly relevant because in One Piece Odyssey, it was implied that Birka, Enel's homeland, and by extension Weatheria, which was founded by Birkans, were descendants of allies of the ancient kingdom.

And so Weatheria's climate technology, upon which Nami's current climate tact is built, may actually be some remnants of the ancient kingdom's technology. The game isn't canon, but given how they worked with Oda, it makes perfect sense that Birka's connection to the ancient kingdom could be, and this only further cements that connection.

Joyboy's Haki blast is so powerful that it splits the heavens in half, much like other Haki users clash with powerful conquerors, but in this case, doing so entirely on his own. At the same time, the Haki blast is so powerful that it strips the Gorosei of their demonic forms and even sends Warcury, Nasujuro, and Peter back to Mary Geoise, though Saturn, curiously, remains behind.

We don't understand exactly how this works, but my best guess is that Joyboy's haki nullified the Gorosei's demonic powers. We know that very strong haki can nullify the abilities of Devil Fruits, so while the Gorosei may not be Devil Fruit users but actual demons, it's still possible that the haki can negate their abilities, and in this case, it's so powerful that they are knocked out of their transformations, and their distortion is also negated.

However, since Saturn physically traveled to Egghead instead of from Mary Geoise, this may be the reason he stayed behind. Mars is also already in Mary Geoise, and it's possible that Luffy's attack canceled his summoning as well, though it's also possible that Luffy sent him flying so far that he flew right next to Mary Geoise. And in an unusual display, in this case, Mars is actually sitting on the couch.

At the same time, however, inside the flower chamber, Imu falls to her knees in shock, recognizing the haki as Joyboy's. This may not seem like it, but it's a big deal, as it strongly implicates a long-held theory about Imu's true nature.

The fact that he sensed Joyboy's haki as if he were there in Egghead would suggest that, as many of us think, the Gorosei are indeed extensions of Imu's body. We already know that the Gorosei are connected in some way, as they can speak telepathically, so it would make perfect sense if the Gorosei were all clones of Imu in the same way that the Satellites are clones of Vegapunk.

At the same time, it's also possible that Imu has such strong observation haki that he could sense Joyboy from Mary Geoise, but to be honest, considering it's literally on the other side of the world, if Imu had that absurd level of haki, he would clearly notice a lot more things than just that, so I think the idea that he sensed it through the Gorosei, especially at the level of intensity that he felt it, is much more likely.

Joy boy

As the Straw Hats sail safely away, Emet recalls an old memory with none other than Joyboy, who makes his first series debut! To no one's surprise, even though it would technically be a huge reveal, Joyboy is indeed wearing what appears to be a straw hat. It's also worth noting that, compared to Emet, Joyboy appears to be quite tall, considerably taller than someone like Luffy.

Which roughly fits the size of the straw hat on Mary Geoise, which wasn't giant, but was larger than a normal person, which would perfectly fit the same straw hat Joyboy is wearing here in terms of size, again reinforcing the idea that the hat on Mary Geoise belonged to Joyboy.

It's also worth noting that, given his build, Joyboy doesn't appear to be a Buccaneer, though Kuma and Klapp assume that all Buccaneers had the same build, unless Joyboy was somehow a Buccaneer and therefore very large and broad, but simply leaner. But if he isn't a Buccaneer, it makes me wonder what exactly the Buccaneers' crime was, and why Saturn attributed it to Kuma's dream of becoming like Nika.

I should also mention that some people seem to think Joyboy might have a peg leg and an artificial hand, though it's hard to say if that's the case or if it's just another case of a One Piece character skipping leg day. There's at least the possibility that Joyboy could be the famous eyepatch pirate that Oda mentioned would appear in One Piece before the story's end.

As for his Japanese speech pattern, it's very reminiscent of someone like young Roger, using the same first-person pronoun "ore" as Luffy and Roger, while also sounding energetic and proud like Roger.

It's also interesting to consider what the square object he's sitting on might actually be. It looks a bit like the buildings on top of Zou, but they're very small compared to Emet; they should be much larger. So I think it's something else, or potentially even a poneglyph given its square shape, which would make sense for why Joyboy is sitting on it. Speaking of Emet, we also see him wearing some clothing that actually closely resembles that of giants like Brogy, which could point to some connection between Emet and Elbaf. At this point, both of his horns were intact as well.

As Emet recalls these final memories, the editor's note in the Japanese release reads "While recalling, Emet sleeps...", implying that Emet is running out of energy again or even dying completely, taking all of his Void Century memories with him.

Egghead Timeline

Moving on to the next chapter, we have a complete outline of the events leading up to the present and how Vegapunk already learned about York's betrayal. However, it can be difficult to keep track of exactly when all these events took place, so let me summarize the general timeline of the Egghead Arc in chronological order:

This all begins at the beginning of the current One Piece year, the year 1524 of the Kaienreki Sea Calendar. Three months ago, in January, York began her plan to betray Vegapunk. She tampered with her synchronization with Punk Records and used a white den den mushi to contact the Five Elder Planets.

A month later, in February, or two months ago, the Government sends CP5 to investigate Egghead. However, they find nothing and leave the island empty-handed. However, when they leave, York manipulates the Sea Beast Weapons to capture the Cipher Pol members, in order to lure the Government into investigating further and finding adequate evidence to arrest Vegapunk. Around the same time, the Straw Hats pass Fishman Island and enter the New World.

Another month later, in March, CP7 arrives at Egghead to conduct another investigation, but history repeats itself and they are captured by York as well. Around this time, the Straw Hats arrive at Wano, and also around the same time that Cobra dies and Sabo escapes from Mary Geoise. On March 17th, or about three weeks ago, the Raid of Onigashima takes place.

A week later, the Wano festival is taking place when Luffy and Zoro wake up, and around the same time, around March 25th, or two weeks ago, CP8 arrives at Egghead and disappears again. Around the same time, Vegapunk, Shaka, and Pythagoras discover that someone has stolen a fragment of the Mother Flame, indicating that this was shortly after York stole part of the Mother Flame and sent it to the Five Elders shortly before. The three Vegapunks attempt to uncover the traitor, which they work on for the next two weeks while keeping their memories synchronized in stealth mode.

As another week passes, around April 1st, or a week ago, Pythagoras discovers that it was York who stole the Mother Flame, and the three prepare a plan of action.

The next day, around April 2nd or six days ago, the Straw Hats leave Wano. At the same time, Imu deploys her ancient weapon, apparently Uranus, fueling it with the Mother Flame, and eradicates the Lulusia Kingdom. Vegapunk notices this and realizes that this attack will trigger an earthquake delayed by several days.

Then, four days later, or two days ago, around April 6th, Vegapunk records his message to be broadcast to the world. Since Stella, Pythagoras, and Shaka are all in Stealth Mode and then erase their memories, this means that the parts of the message we didn't hear can't be remembered by someone like Lilith, unfortunately.

After that, the three of them hide the den den mushi transmission inside the Iron Giant. This also means that when Vegapunk found Luffy by the Iron Giant, he wasn't trying to hide the den den mushi, he was simply trying to teleport there to find Luffy.

It's worth noting in these scenes that Vegapunk mentions that they must preserve the "Kumofuto" technology. This refers to the cloud-generating machine shown in the panel, as the word is a combination of the Japanese word for clouds, "kumo," and potentially the English word "kurafuto" or "craft," meaning "Cloud Crafting."

This is to generate island clouds in case the world were to submerge, which seems to reinforce the idea that islands like Skypiea may have been man-made by Void Century angels to avoid sinking beneath the waves after the great Void Century flood. However, it also makes one wonder why this is being mentioned here, and if this is some kind of Chekov's gun that will be used in a future arc by Lilith or something similar when it's most needed.

The three then wipe their memories to ensure the plan goes ahead without York knowing. They claim this will be their victory, which parallels Shaka's message that Ohara also achieved her victory by preserving most of her books, in what seems to be a clear parallel between how the Ohara Incident and the Egghead Incident unfolded. Upon awakening, the three realize they will die because of the letter that was left behind.

The next day, around April 7th, or a day ago, Shaka calls Dragon to inform him that he believes he is going to die, having been informed by the letter the day before. The Straw Hats arrive on the island and Vegapunk tells Luffy that he believes the Government will kill him too, so, faced with a new miracle for a way out with someone who can defend him, Vegapunk decides to try and bet his chances on an escape.

He is, however, captured by York, shocked that she is the traitor, but this is all part of her plan to make York think she is the one in control, as Vegapunk remembers nothing about a traitor. During the night, the Straw Hats capture York and take control of Labophase. Unfortunately, however, Shaka and Pythagoras are killed by York's actions.

The next morning, on the present day around April 8th, a massive earthquake hits the world exactly as Vegapunk predicted, raising global sea levels. Kizaru and Saturn launch their offensive on Egghead, and Vegapunk Stella is killed by them, causing the den den mushi to send its transmission.

Atlas loses his life, and presumably Edison too, though this isn't entirely clear now, but Lilith manages to escape with the Straw Hats when they leave Egghead Island. Most of Vegapunk's broadcast reaches most of the world, warning them of Imu's impending plan and the importance of Joyboy and the One Piece in the bigger picture. Vegapunk's mention of the earthquake makes the world realize his words must be true.

However, York remained alive on Egghead, so unless Stella takes another precaution, she and Saturn could now seize the Power Plant and generate more Mother Flames, which could infinitely power Imu's ancient weapon. We don't know how long it would take for these Mother Flames to generate, but it's clear they're racing against the clock to stop Imu from destroying the world.

Vegapunk concludes his final message with a very simple wish: he detailed in his broadcast that whoever finds the One Piece will be able to affect the fate of the world, but he confesses to Sanji and Franky that… “I hope your crew… is the one who finds the One Piece!!!”

Thus closes the curtain of the Arch Egghead, as we speed toward Elbaf, which we'll reach in less than a day real time. With that, we must say goodbye to Egghead, to all the characters, moments, and revelations of the story. I vividly remember when Egghead began; I had just turned 24 and was visiting New York for the Times Square takeover, and it was just after the release of Film RED.

And now, two years later, it's crazy to relive it all. From our first arrival on the island, to meeting all the Punks, Luffy vs. Lucci and the secrets of the Devil Fruits, Stussy's turnaround, the Among Us games, to Kid being defeated, Garp attacking Hachinosu, seeing what happened in the Reverie, Luffy vs. Kizaru, Kuma's flashback, the Five Planets descending, Vegapunk's message, Bonney's transformation, and Emet's final moments, Egghead has been a One Piece arc unlike any other. Being completely honest and transparent, I feel like Egghead was one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had as a One Piece fan.

I've been through so many One Piece arcs, so I know this isn't a current bias; it's just that the final saga of One Piece was an experience on a whole different level. It may not have been objectively the best arc or the most impeccably written, but I can safely say that Egghead is the most enjoyable experience I've ever had reading a One Piece arc weekly.

To all the friends I've made over the years, to all the fans I've shared this adventure with, and to Eiichiro Oda for writing one of the most moving experiences of my life, all I can say is... Thank you, Egghead!